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I grew up in Manhattan om the lower east side…Jacob Riis Projects….We played there and then as I grew older we played on 13th St between Ave A and 1st Ave…. I just recently found a Spaldeen ball… and I;m looking to start a league here in Virginia…Today is only the second day of this adventure…. My goal is to get a team up and match up with those in NYC… and so on… To eventually play in Puerto Rico’s World Series… I use to play all version’s of this game… and now that I’m 55 years old and in relatively good shape.. I’m looking to play once again!!!!

My hangout was the boysclub on 10th st.ave a. kind of diagonally across the st. from thompkins square park. early 60s to 70s. me and my friends would meet at the boysclub, and cruise the lowereast side, avanues a.b.c.and d.Sids candy shop sat on the corner of 10th and b. sometimes we would meetup there, and hangout, always something goin on in the hood. A very diverse cultured area. Early in the 60s was ok, but as time went on the area became ridden with junkies and lots of street crime. So we banded together into a group of guys called the 10th st boys. we protected ourselves, and lots of people in the area. there were about 20 of us. all colors, all ethnic backgrounds, we were not street criminal, but we held our own. We played handball in thompkins square pk. And basketball, and went dancing at the electric circus on 8th st. and hangout there also, mod a go go was in, lots of drugs. lots of women. Good and crazy times, the clubbing in the village area, shows at the fillmore east. doors, jimi hendrix, the cheetah clubs, where james brown arethea franklin 4 tops temptations, all the big name of that era played. I had some great times coming from the lower eastside. I wouldnt change a thing, some good some bad, but thats life.

I played Skelsies in the 70’s in the Vladeck Housing projects on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I played so much in the summer that my knees were permanently black with dirt all summer long. I discovered the gray lids from the 35mm film worked great with a little melted crayon. I would float a dime in the middle for style and weight. There were quite a few fights due to the Slappsies which shot the opposing cap down the block. I miss the simpler times. Now with giutar Hero you just don’t get the neighborhood feel. Thanks for the warm memories.

I grew up on New York’s Lower East Side 80 years ago. About 40 years ago, I was amazed when a woman friend, reminiscing about her childhood in Winthrop Mass., north of Boston, sang a group street game chant: “Oh, Oh, the ring we leave-o!” It struck me immediately that her “Ring we leave-o” was obviously the phrase that somehow morphed into the Italian-sounding “Ringoleavio” in the streets of New York. It may or may not have been exactly the same game. Does anyone know? How did they play The Ring We Leave-o in Boston in the 1930s?

wowwwwwwwwwww–l.e.s talk on here,,,i play handball at grandt st,chinatown,,and all these sites brings me back,,from the fish market(which is very much alive til this day)to restaurants to franks bike shop,lolo,,,

lower east side e.4th st.p.s. 25 schoolyard late ’40s early ’50s. johnny on the pony was a big favorite,but none of the girls would play (watta disappointment)it would have been alot more fun. when you were talking with your friends if your sister walked up and one guy cursed right away it was “hey watch ya language”. there was a little more respect in those days,but we had tons of fun. some guy on one of these sights said ” if i could go back,i’d go in a flash. i feel the same way. take care.

Yo Nieves from Booklyn.Much respect to you.But the reason You dont like the spalding is that the ones ther are making now are nothimg like the one from the days.I grew up on the lower east side in nyc in the 70s.The spalding they use to make was made in such a way that you could not squeeze it.If you played stickball or stoop it use to take off.The new ones are nothing like the old ones.If I ever get a hand on a old school ball I will write you and send one to you.Take care Ralph LES

When I was a kid growing up on the lower east side in the early sixties we pronounced the game as Skellzee.When and if did the name change,or was the same game known by differnt name variations in different neighborhoods. …

Hi, Jeane: My friends and I used to rent out bikes in that shop when we were twelve and thirteen years old. Right next door to the bicycle shop was a pet store that specialized in pigeons. In my neighborhood (Little Italy), most of the guys were pigeon crazy. Almost every block had a coop or two on it. Back in the late fifties, the rents were so low that landlords really didn’t care what you put on their rooftops– although it was much wiser to seek permission from the landlord before you started building your coop and buying pigeons for it. We had coops on Mott and Prince Street, on Prince and Mulberry Street, on the Bowery and Prince Street, and on Houston and Mott Street. Sometimes, when we were up on the roof during school hours, the truant officer would come up. Then my friends and I would have to scamper six-stories down the fire escape and into the yard to get away from him, laughing all the way. Getting back to the bicycle shop you mentioned in your post. I believe the name of it was “Barbares.” And that it was located across the street from Sara Roosevelt park, a short distance from the corner of Houston St. The owner used to charge us thirty-five cents an hour to ride those old, heavy, hard-to-pedal bicycles that we used to call “trucks.”